


I In Her Place

by jm_serendipitous



Category: Sherlock Holmes (2009) RPF
Genre: First Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-21
Updated: 2012-10-21
Packaged: 2017-11-16 18:48:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/542686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jm_serendipitous/pseuds/jm_serendipitous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Love? For you? My dear Watson, how could you be so daft?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	I In Her Place

They are pawns to this world, these men, doppelgangers to Holmes and Watson, uttering their words and flitting their hands, caught in a time and, tonight, in an argument.

The rain thundered down on them, deafeningly cold yet feverish, slapping against their coats and top hats and bouncing off like bullets on asphalt, but neither made a move to leave. The roars of the boxing ring on the other side of the wall were vociferous and growing more so as one by one the sloshed men filtered from the doors and wobbled through the storm, their chortles strident even in the storm, but the two friends stayed locked in their own, a confrontation that had been put off for years and couldn’t wait a moment more. 

Watson grasped like iron onto Holmes’ lapels, countenance set murderously, and throttled the belligerent man, the darkness of the night and the shadows of the alley keeping them well-hidden and under astute cover.

“If you love me at all, Holmes, stop doing what you are doing! Stop sabotaging this and let me go!” Watson cried, though the molasses behind it was lost with the overhead rumble.

Holmes noticeably sagged in his friend’s hold, collapsing against the brick, incredulous. “Love? For you? My dear Watson, how could you be so daft?”

And this was the moment, the sea change. The next words were due to be castigating—intentionally unintentionally so—a bumble that was to spill out before the speaker could comprehend what it was he was saying but there was something anew in Holmes’ eye. Watson’s bristle visibly deflated, replaced by a curiosity and suspicion that only one man could inspire, and Holmes consciously turned his cheek, gaze unfocused on the puddles to his left.

“My love for you has never wavered or rendered itself obsolete, merely progressed further and further into something that I cannot utter. Not to you, least of all to myself. You keep me alive, John. For that and all else you do, my affections are steady. I do not mean to sabotage what you have procured with Mary, nor do I intend upon you any unhappiness. I merely wish…” Holmes sighed, closing his eyes and relishing in the feel of the rain on his skin, imaging it were a veil partitioning him from the consequences as a manner of protection.

“I merely wish it were I in her place.” The penny dropped. The elephant ballooned to undeniable volume. 

The gaunt beam they were precariously balanced on bent then snapped under their feet, tumbling down, as Jude launched forward to kiss Robert. Their breaths snagged between their lips and the clash tasted of salt, this deviation and abruption, but Robert reacted naturally, meeting Jude’s hesitant tongue with his own and bunching the man’s shirt to draw him flush, hips connecting and sparks flying.

“Jude,” Robert rasped, breathless and husky, words that he wouldn’t have associated with himself if it weren’t for the man and the way his heart swelled and exploded like fire crackers in his chest cavity. 

The bellows of amused cut’s and snickering inquiries went unheard by the two as Robert kissed Jude again and again and again and again, they slipping into the mirage which held their own world in its haze but now mitigated into a unexpectedly new reality. 

**Author's Note:**

> So this was a drabble that was part of a 100-glimpses-into-the-life-of collection, but I never finished it so I might just dismantle the rest of it and post them as stand-alones.


End file.
